BLINDSPOT “Mum’s the Word” Review

BLINDSPOT — “Mum’s The Word” Episode 317 — Pictured: (l-r) Jaimie Alexander as Jane Doe, Luke Mitchell as Roman — (Photo by: Virginia Sherwood/NBC)

BLINDSPOT “MUM’S THE WORD” REVIEW

BY PAULINE PERENACK

Switching Sides

Last week on Blindspot, some of the season’s loose ends began to come together. We learned that Borden survived the explosion everyone thought killed him last season, and even more shocking, was that Zapata had been working with him the whole time. Feeling deeply betrayed, Patterson walked away from her, as did Reade upon hearing about Zapata’s feelings for him, ultimately leaving Zapata alone.

Additionally, Roman grew closer to Crawford after his help during a health scare. However, Roman clued the team into a gala Crawford would be attending, which would be the perfect time to take him down, leaving Roman’s loyalties still up in the air.

So did the team capture Crawford? Will Patterson and Reade forgive Zapata? Let’s recap tonight’s episode to find out.

A Gala of a Mission

“Mum’s the Word” kicks off with Roman, who is buying diamonds for Crawford to use in his land deal with Jean Paul. We then see Zapata working out with a punching bag, as Patterson’s and Reade’s reactions to her play over and over in her mind. Her ringing phone brings her out of her thoughts, and she joins the team who are discussing the upcoming gala. A prosecutor from the US attorney’s office listens in, and tells the team that this is their shot to get Crawford, so it better be flawless.

With the team split up doing various research projects on Jean Paul, who they have learned will also be at the gala, Avery arrives with everything she has on Crawford. Once she finds out the team is going after him, she wants to go too, but Jane tries to send her away. Before leaving however, Avery recognizes a picture of Jean Paul’s yacht, and identifies his partner, Allison Ornstein.

Reade comes to collect Zapata when she doesn’t show up for a briefing, and it’s obvious that Patterson is trying to freeze her out. Once the team is together, they make the connection that Jean Paul is actually a very dangerous terrorist named The Serpent, which suddenly makes this gala that much more important.

However, the only way they can get information about the event is through the party planner, who happens to be a well-known wedding planner. Reade and Zapata go undercover as a couple, with Patterson along for the ride, and meet the planner in a café so Patterson can wirelessly hack into her computer.

With the planner’s files in hand, Patterson not only finds the location of the gala, but also information on the alias that Roman has been using, as he was the one connecting with the planner for the party. Unfortunately however, the planner is notorious with her security, and the team realizes the best way in to the gala is to have someone in the inside.

Since Avery grew up with Blake and still has a good relationship with her, the team asks her to use the connection to get in. Excited for the chance, she immediately agrees. The plan is for her to get in, and open a door for the team to sneak through. However, as Patterson guides her through the house, Avery finds herself being caught by one of the security guards. She talks her way out of trouble, and manages to unlock a window above the door for the team, and heads back to the security van.

BLINDSPOT — “Mum’s The Word” Episode 317 — Pictured: (l-r) Audrey Esparza as Tasha Zapata, Rob Brown as Edgar Reade — (Photo by: Virginia Sherwood/NBC)

The rest of the team make their way in, and blend in with the crowd. Avery however, is not content to stay in the van, and sneaks back into the gala, heading directly towards Crawford. She asks Crawford about her father, and Jane has to intervene to pull her away. However, Jane’s cover story for who she is, and how she knows Avery piques Crawford’s interest, and he tells them they must meet Blake. As they walk away, he stops them, and introduces them to Blake’s bodyguard and boyfriend, Tom Jakeman.

To Roman’s credit, he doesn’t blow their cover, but instead walks them away to another room to tell them how to incriminate Crawford. He’ll give them access to a room where Crawford and Jean Paul will be making the deal for the land so they can set up audio and video devices. He tells them that he has an electrical net over the room, giving him the ability to kill any and all A/V devices whenever he chooses.

Jane and Zapata bug the room, and the team watches as Crawford’s attorney begins to open a suitcase that presumably holds the diamonds. However, at that moment, Roman and Blake enter the room, and Jane is confused as to why Roman would incriminate himself. As their video feed goes black, Weller says they’ve been played, but Jane still can’t wrap her head around why.

BLINDSPOT — “Mum’s The Word” Episode 317 — Pictured: Ashley Johnson as Patterson — (Photo by: Virginia Sherwood/NBC)

We then flash to four hours earlier as Crawford, Roman, and Blake fly in to the gala, and they discuss Roman’s health scare, and how they all are looking out for each other since their lives have all changed so much over the past few months. Then we cut to Avery storming out after Jane told her to wait in the van instead of helping to bug the room, even though Avery says she dropped her tracking device in Roman’s jacket. On her way out, she runs into Blake, and confesses she can’t be around everyone because it’s too hard.

Blake then finds Roman, and tells him she can’t imagine her life without him. As she pours her heart out to him, he realizes he can’t walk away from her, and instead takes her into the meeting to warn Crawford the FBI is on to them. They hurry the deal, and make a break for it, just ahead of the team closing in on them. Roman found Avery’s tracker, and slipped it into Jean Paul’s jacket, so the team tracked him instead, as Crawford, Blake, and Roman made their getaway.

Back at headquarters, the attorney congratulates the team for taking out Jean Paul, but the team still can’t figure out why Roman flipped on them at the last moment. Jane then finds video of Roman and Blake talking, and realizes he did it for love.

Love isn’t in the air for Reade and Zapata however, as Zapata tells Reade she can’t go to the wedding, or be his best man. Jane, Weller, and Avery though have a quiet dinner at home, and act as though they don’t have a care in the world.

Meanwhile, after a nasty argument in the plane with Crawford and Blake, Roman is reminded that it’s his fault the team got so close – he was supposed to kill them, and he didn’t. As such, since he’s now fully with Crawford, he sends out the team’s pictures to a group of assassins, so they now all have a major target on their backs.

Fighting for Family

It’s clear we’re getting close to the end of the season, because the intensity of the episodes is getting stronger each week. Also, as I’ve been saying all season, this show really shines when it isn’t forced into the tattoo case of the week. This week barely even mentioned tattoos, and flowed quickly and easily for the full hour.

We got to see the team dealing with their personal lives, both for the good (Weller, Jane, and Avery), and the bad (Zapata and Reade).

Better still, we finally got to see the team reach the pinnacle Roman had originally set out for them with Crawford, but then have the rug pulled out from underneath them yet again by Roman. He’s always one step ahead of them, and it appears as though he’s finally done playing with them. He’s now realized that he’s found a family – one that will accept him for who he (sort of) really is, rather than toss him in a cage, and he’s going to protect that best he can.

It looks as though the rest of the season will be the team fighting for their lives against the assassins sent to get them, so who will survive? Will they then turn and go after Roman as well as Crawford? Unfortunately, we’re going to have to wait a few weeks to find out. Until then!